You are Christopher Phillips, previously just another teenage nerd living in a small English town, and a lot of things have changed in your life since you died.

It’s a Wednesday morning near the end of term, two days before the Leavers’ Dance, the big party the school throws for the Year 11 students before they head off to work on their GCSEs so that they don’t throw their own parties and get drunk. A month or so ago your big concerns would have been the upcoming exams, and maybe how not to embarrass yourself on your own at the dance (the idea that you might actually have a date being so ridiculous as not to even be worth considering). Then again, that was when magic was a thing you read about in fantasy novels, fairies lived in fairy tales, and vampires were the subject of creepy ‘romantic’ movies.

Now you’re sitting next to one. She’s not a creepy stalker, she doesn’t sparkle in the sunlight, (although you’re still not quite sure why she’s not bursting into flames), and she’s most definitely not a ‘vegetarian’. Cassandra is a ruthless murderer, but there’s the possibility she could be your ruthless murderer. You could do with some more supernaturally-capable minions, and at the very least, recruiting her might mean you can keep her bloodlust under control.

You need to approach the topic carefully, though. You already asked her to work for you once, and she turned you down - for the moment, she’s enjoying being a free agent. Her last boss kept her on a tight leash and starved her (by which she means preventing her from killing the people she fed from). It’ll be tricky to convince her you don’t intend to the same (particularly since you do - this is your town, you’re not having someone else running around killing your people). Still, in the grand scheme of things, she’s a small fish in a pretty big pond. She’ll come around, or you’ll kill her. Either way, problem solved.

>>28006424So, how do you want to start this conversation? Do remember that you’re in the middle of Geography class - using your more directly magical methods of persuasion is not going to be a subtle act.

[]Take it slow - make some small talk, tell her about last night, and about your killing of the Corrupter demon. She’ll be grateful for the news, and that gives you a hook you can work with later.[]Give her a pitch. Lay out the benefits of working for you, having a patron who can protect her and keep her hidden from the hunters wandering around, and being part of an organised group (more or less) again.[]She’s still got another living thrall, assuming she hasn’t drained him dry already. Get some answers about where he is and what her plans are. Interrogate her - you need information, and you’re not particularly bothered about how uncomfortable a murdering corpse gets.[]Maybe you can work around her resistance to working for you if you approach things from a different direction. Seduce Cassandra - it’s a pretty reliable tactic now, but her actual reaction might be unpredictable.[]Other

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>>28006440((I'm also going to copy over the Q&A session from last thread, in case people missed it.))

>What would happen if we fed a vampire our blood?(( It would probably be pretty unpleasant and they'd likely throw it up again, like drinking sour milk. At least, Cassandra, the only vampire you know of, requires her blood alive, human, warm, and pretty much straight from the vein. ))

>So, what happened to your previous hosts? You burn them out, or someone force you out?>And the idea of hedonistic revelry by handing out our blood; how bad of an idea is it?

I can give you advice, but if you choose to do something stupid anyway and get yourself killed, that's hardly my fault. You're not invincible.

Hedonistic revelry? It's just blood, kid, it's not suddenly some wonder drug just because you're running on a supply of real power now. I mean, sure, someone with a bit of talent could extract useful things from it, but that's hardly the same as 'drink this and get high'. Besides, if I were you I'd keep an eye on my blood. Just because it won't get you high doesn't mean people wouldn't find it valuable.

>So what are your opinions on Heaven and Hell anyway? Oh, don't get me started on those idiots, kid. I've got no particular interest in beauty or love - the important thing is power. And I've got no interest in wasting my time with their war, either. I'm busy enough as it is. The angels and devils can both go hang for all I care.

Not that one necessarily says such things to an angel or devil's face, of course. But even then, there are polite ways of telling the bastards to fuck off.

>Is being dead or the host of some ancient being a prerequisite for magical power, or is there some way to gain it through independent study or just by having it in the blood?((Avril and Isabella have both demonstrated magical power, and you're fairly sure neither of them is host to anything. Miranda also mentioned mages at one point, although you don't know much about them.))

>>28006440>[X]Take it slow - make some small talk, tell her about last night, and about your killing of the Corrupter demon. She’ll be grateful for the news, and that gives you a hook you can work with later.

"You know the Corrupter? That thing that poisoned Isabella and screwed things up for you? It's dead. Heart ripped from its chest. Or whatever passes for a chest on that thing."

Cassandra stares at you. "Ajani actually pulled it off? How the hell did that naive idiot actually manage to fight something like that?"

"He may be naive, but he's a damn good fighter - and he and Gloria had a fair bit of help from me. More importantly, while they found the guy you set loose to throw them off, they didn't buy that the demon killed the other two. No bodies. They're still looking for them."

"Oh, damn it all." Cassandra sighs and rests her head in her hands. "Why the hell did those idiots have to suddenly become competent? Bah." She looks up at you, her expression suddenly cautious. "I presume you're planning to do something else to throw them off?"

"The plan is still to try and blame things on the demon. Except that now it's dead, if there are any more mysterious disappearances, it'll be even more suspicious than before. So try to be a bit more subtle in future."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I normally have a bit more time to plan and make sure everything's covered up."

"Have you tried just not killing people?"

Cassandra stares at you. "Have you tried not eating? Or not drinking? It kinda sucks. I may not actually be able to starve to death, but I can sure as hell feel like it."

"Okay, okay. Anyway, if you keep your head down, they ought to move on to other targets. If they do decide to go after you, though, there won't be much of anything I can do to stop them."

Cassandra gives you an evil smile. "I think I can handle myself in that eventuality. But thanks for the warning, nonetheless. Was that all you had to tell me?"

>>28007644I can't think of anything; I don't think we have enough pull to be able to offer much to Cassandra, and our best bet to making her our minion is with a good dose of our persuasion and some of the Man's mojo.

But that's not a good idea to use right now, and seduction would really only work if we're alone and there isn't anything reminding Cassandra of her social position.

We need to bait her just a bit. Inform her that we're contemplating some long term interests that those with nothing but time after Their education is finished might be interested in getting on the ground floor of. We don't think it would interest her because it would entail working alongside, though the new & improved, Isabella, for a considerable length of time.

>>28007644>Have you tried not eating? Or not drinking? It kinda sucks.Has she tried having a large number of thralls to suck blood from?Alternatively, could we let her use us as a power source like Isabella does and would it reduce her hunger.If both of those don't work, then it may be time to accept that we can't have everyone in our pocket and it's time to kill her off

>>28007855That reminds me that we have to figure out something for Isabella's dad and their company. Right now they're a potential toxic asset and we need to find a way to make his company profitable again. Could Fae bring him luck in the stock market?

>>28008010I wonder about putting him in touch with Esther's family. They have wealth, but not the kind of wealth they want. Isabella's dad is good at his job- it's the gambling thing that's a problem. With Esther's family's money as seed capital, he could make them a tidy profit in exchange for a reasonable percentage, with omnipresent understanding that if he gambles he's snake food.

>>28008156I thought it was more, "as dad got more and morer desperate to pay off the gambling debts he started embezzling from his company and making riskier and riskier investments with work funds. It didn't pan out." and then Isabelle kept feeding him new money and saving his old contracts, so he kept up with the brain dead burning of his capital. Could be wrong though.

She chuckles. "Oh, whatever you're dangling in front of me, I'd like to at least know what it is that you think I'd be enticed by. But it'll have to wait. I don't think we share our next class."

Damn, you didn't realise how late it had gotten. And now it's time for another joyous, incredibly pleasant Biology lesson. Great. Just great.

Mr Coombs' classroom seems a bit emptier than usual - not only are both James and Ajani missing, there's a few other scattered spaces. Well, it is nearly the end of term - they might just be skiving off school. Or something might have happened to them. It's a touch worrying how quickly your brain jumps to "they've been murdered" these days. They're probably fine. Probably.

Mr Coombs glares at you all as he lays out a sheaf of practice examination papers. "Heads down. No talking. No copying. Anyone found to be using their phone will have it defenestrated. Anyone attempting to persuade others to cheat will be defenestrated themself. When you are finished with your paper, close it and place your pen or pencil on top of it and then sit in silence until the papers are collected."

Well, great. You guess you won't have much of a chance to catch up with Isabella. Although maybe you could try something tricky. You'll still be sitting right next to her.

[]Focus. It's only a practice paper, it's not like it counts for anything, but it's still good revision.[]You've got quite a lot of paper to work with. Write her some brief notes with questions on them.[]Try to do something more magical. You've got a connection with her, she said. Maybe you can exploit that?[]Other

>>28009188You put your head down and focus quietly, just like everyone else. But it's not the paper you're focusing on. You probe and press at the limits of your own mind. Somewhere in here there's a link, a connection. A pathway, from your mind to Isabella's.

It must be here, somewhere. Isabella said she could feel it easily - but then, she knew what she was looking for. You try to examine your thoughts, looking for any foreign element, anything strange or unusual. A big tangle of stress and tension over the exams and Cassandra, some suspicion and confusion, your usual desires, your worries for the future, and... hmm. Something that feels a little strange, like the tiniest vestige of a headache or a cold. Uncomfortable.You carefully, gently prod it.

Isabella sits straight up in her seat with a sudden jerk, turning her head wildly from side to side, staring at the rest of the class in confusion. You can see Mr Coombs striding over to your table, a thin smile playing across his lips.

"Is there a problem of some sort, Donaldson? Anything you'd like to share with the class?"

Mr Coombs purses his lips carefully. "See that it doesn't." He turns and walks away.

Isabella quickly turns her head and gives you a sharp glare, and you dip your eyes sheepishly. She sighs and turns back to her paper.

You close your eyes and turn your attention back to that strange spot in your mind. You focus carefully, trying not to prod it again, but instead to push some words at it, a few simple, discrete thoughts. Gently and carefully and everything should be fine, right?

>>28009935>Can't win 'em all...There are also bets you shouldn't have made in the first place because they're stupid. Not necessarily this one, but just saying. You know, like shooting ourselves in the head just to see if our undead state lets us survive it, and such.

>>28009780Okay. Just a simple hello. Nice and careful, just push it towards the connection...

There's a scream, and Isabella bolts upright again. This time she scrambles from her seat, and turns to glare furiously straight at you. Then she stops and slowly raises a hand to her nose, dabbing the small trickle of blood that's flowing from one nostril and looking at her bloodstained fingertip. Her face turns pale.

Without another word, Isabella turns and runs out of the room. When you manage to tear your gaze away from the door, you see that Mr Coombs is frowning at you.

"Phillips. Come and see me after school. Everyone else, what do you think you're looking at? Get back to your tests."

The paper is a slow, unpleasant grind now. The stress and the worry are pulling you right out of your normal easy writing space and slowing everything down, and it's hard to concentrate on writing with everything else that's fighting for space in your brain.

You finally sit quietly, nervously fiddling with your pencil as you wait for the papers to be collected in. Mr Coombs gives you another frown as he dismisses the class.

P.E. is slightly better - you don't have your head in the game, but you never do with P.E. anyway. It's a rugby practice, so all you really have to do is run around the field for an hour occasionally getting in the other team's way while Zack and the other athletes score the actual tries and field goals.

By the time that lunch rolls around, you're tired and sweaty but no less stressed. The PE class tends to be split by gender, so you haven't seen any sign of Isabella all lesson. She might be having lunch somewhere. Of course, she also might not want you bothering her, and you have plenty of other things that also need doing. Seeing Esther and the remaining Hunters, talking to Jill and Avril, having another little chat with Cassandra, talking to Zack. Oh, and Jill's social worker, Anne, is hanging around again. Doesn't she have better things to do?

>>28010611I absolutely agree we need to apologise, and profusely. I'm just not sure she wants to see us right now. I was wondering about leaving a note in her locker, but people watching might get the wrong idea, and she specifically stated she doesn't want people to think we're dating. We probably should go find her, even if she doesn't want to see us.

>>28010752>hindsight is 20/20Of course hindsight is 20/20. But some things don't require hindsight to be able to predict, and that phrase is many times used as an excuse by those that should have seen a bad result coming.

>>28010880You really ought to make it up to Isabella for whatever you put her through earlier. The trick will be finding her first.

Isabella's usual crowd of hangers-on are scattered around. She's not in the lunch hall, or outside. Eventually you check the nurse's office, and find her sitting on one of the beds with a tissue plugged her nose, holding her head. When she sees you, she sighs, checks that the nurse isn't around, and then shuffles over on the bed to make room for you.

"Hey, look, I'm sorry," you say as you take a seat next to her. "I wasn't trying to hurt you and I didn't mean for... whatever happened, to happen."

Isabella shakes her head gently. "Yeah, well, it happened anyway, whether you meant it to or not. What *did* you mean to happen, anyway?"

"I was trying to talk to you via our link, get some sort of telepathic communication going on. Just doing a little magical experimentation."

Isabella gives you a tired stare. "And doing magical experimentation in the middle of a packed classroom is clearly a brilliant idea, isn't it?"

"... Yeah, I know. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have tried it without asking you first, either."

Isabella grins. "So you can learn, at least a little. Yeah, that was a fucking stupid thing to do. But at least you're learning something from it." She coughs, and winces. "Right. If that's all, the get the hell out of here before you make things worse. And watch what the hell you're experimenting on next time."

As you're grabbing a quick bite to eat, Avril swings into the seat next to you and passes you a small slip of paper with a phone number written on it.

"Congratulations, Chris," she grins. "You managed to get a girl's number without even talking to her."

"What? Whose number is this?"

"The social worker girl, Anne. Or Annabelle, I guess - she said if we had news about Jill to call that and ask for Annabelle."

"News?"

"She went to Jill's house earlier and she and her mother were both missing. Jill's vanished. Again."

>>28011611>Jill's vanishedWe should talk with Miranda about this. Goddamnit, this is not a good time for this shit.

Also, MH, please have characters point out our mistakes and take us to task for them more. It really helps to know when Chris, and through extension the players, are being fucktarded idiots, like Isabella pointed out.

>>28011611"I suspect she's taking her mother as far away as she can get from the justice of the Court. Whether that's for her protection or in order to extract a little justice of her own, I'm not sure. You seem surprisingly calm- have you tried texting her yet? Or, hold on. Did we get her a new phone?"

"...well isn't that just splendid...sigh. Is it just me or are things just piling up around the three of us nonstop? Once we settle matters with the Winter King, Find a long terms solution to the issue of Jill's mother, and set in motion the first steps of my thousand year plan to rule all of creation with unassailable authority...we should really find time for three of us to just relax"

>>28010932I took a nap thinking this was a retarded choice you guys were making and mystified as to why you were making it. I woke up with it confirmed. It is quite possibly the second stupidest decision you people have made in this quest. It does not require fucking dice gods for that to have been stupid.

>>28012235I don't have to, you already got called a fucking idiot who did something stupid enough to deserve a face palm. We were told right out that it was an idiotic thing to do, that a modicum of thought would have determined that it was a bad idea.

And you didn't even have the good grace to have the dice save us all from your stupidity.

I really hope that Jill is just taking her mother to an institution somewhere, but I have a feeling that this scenario is about to reach climax.

Shall we decide an itinerary for next Tuesday?Im thinking....>Grab Avril, go find Jill.>while searching, have a talk about responsibility with Avril. also about how we feel she is distancing herself>Deal with Jill and her Mother, looking for a long term solution. >Go to the dance

>>28012562Oh, but you're one of the more prolific posters of stupid ideas, and you continue to defend them even after they've been shown to be stupid.

Making a stupid suggestion is your right, and it's the fault of everyone dumb enough to actually vote for your idiotic suggestion when things go terribly.But that doesn't mean you have a right to be free from being criticized for it or being called fucking stupid.

>>28012654Getting ahold of Miranda should be our immediate next step. And remember that we're expected to meet with Coombs for our little stunt back in Biology after school. Better get ready for a dressing down.Unless people want to see how much worse things can get by trying to use persuasion on Coombs to let us go.

>>28012696nah man, as I mentioned, I accept and embrace it. fire away! what else is there, aside from a idiots and assholes?

though im not actually that dude that says he suggests doing some things for the story potential. Im the other guy, who says things just cause I like to. I figured id jump in and play defense though.... just because.

>>28012876Your impulsiveness is obvious, and your idiocy apparent.Who but the alcohol-addled product of an inbred trollop would try to defend actions held up as the epitome of stupidity and an example of a lack of forethought? There was nothing defensible there, and I'm surprised that the Man hasn't said anything about it.

>>28013178there's no insult haha. Im serious, its a good thing we have thinkers on the team, otherwise Chris wouldn't have gotten as far as he has.

There are times for impulse, and times for tact. sometimes impulse is a little over zealous, and sometimes everyone is a little impulsive and votes for impulse. Then we roll dice, and accept the result.

There is always going to be someone acting on instinct. Its not smart, but its a fact. Sometimes instinct plays off, sometimes not.

If it gets you to get those gears turning, and offer some actual plans, then I really couldn't care less if you are offended by a poor suggestion haha. food for thought. Im complimenting you.

>>28013381I do make thought-out suggestions and actual plans. But you, with your tendency to make bad choices, get in the way by voting for your own stupid idea. You're not helping; you're just an obstacle and a nuisance, and people would only be gladdened if you removed yourself.